San Antonio will once again host the 3rd Texas Summit on Implementing Mexican American Studies in Texas Schools. The summit is organized by the National Association for Chicana & Chicano Studies (NACCS) regional conference, Tejas Foco, and the Committee on Mexican American Studies (MAS) Pre-K–12 Education. The one-day event will be held on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Northwest Vista College. The summit is free and open to all educators and community members who are interested in workshops on teaching Mexican American History, Literature, and Fine Arts. Those participating can also work in creating a strategic plan for implementing Mexican American Studies in Texas schools. Texas teachers will be eligible to receive up to 8 hours of Continuing Education Hours for attending and participating in this Summit.

Mexican American and Latinos students comprise 51.3% of school-aged children in the state of Texas and this demographic is expected to grow to 67% by 2050 according to the Hobby Center. Educational research has shown that students who take Mexican American, and other Ethnic Studies courses are more academically engaged, graduate from high school at higher rates, score better on standardized tests, and achieve higher grades in all their courses. The Texas State Board of Education allows individual school districts and schools the option of implementing Mexican American and other Ethnic Studies courses. Currently, we are working toward creating a TEKS based Mexican American Studies Course, which we hope will be available for the Academic Year of 2019-2020. Textbooks and instructional materials focusing on Mexican American, Native American, African American and Asian American Studies are currently in development.

The goals of this Texas Summit on Implementing MAS in Texas Schools is to host workshops in teaching MAS social studies, MAS literature, and how to integrate MAS content into the standard curriculum. We will also be identifying institutional barriers, establish priorities, and develop a plan of action for the implementation of Mexican American Studies in Texas schools from Pre-K to 12th grade and for increasing access to MAS courses and content within the broader community.

This year we will once again be partnering with Mexican American Studies Decolonial Epistemologies Symposium: “Pedagogies of Liberation in Chicana and Chicano Schools and Communities” as part of our programming. It will take place on Friday, June 29th, from 6-9pm at UTSA Downtown. This event will also be free and open to the public. We encourage all of our attendees to attend this important symposium.

Also that week, the Mexican American Studies Program at UTSA will host the 5th Annual Power and Enhancement in Social Studies and Literature Academy from June 25-29th at the Institute of Texan Cultures. For more information, please contact Professor Marie “Keta” Miranda, PhD at 210.458.2675 or marie.miranda@utsa.edu.

MASSLTA 3.5 FLYER

To All National Association for Chicana & Chicano Studies (NACCS) Tejas Foco 2018 Members and Allies:

The Texas State Board of Education will be casting an historic vote on a Mexican American Studies (MAS) high school course at their next board meeting on April 10-13, 2018, in Austin. The NACCS Tejas Foco Committee on Mexican American Studies in Pre-K-12 Education is organizing a major rally and signing up people to testify in favor of a MAS course for Tuesday, April 10th.

You are invited to a special planning and strategy session for this Texas State Board of Education action from 3-4:50 p.m., Friday, February 16 at the NACCS Tejas Foco 2018 conference, Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, Texas. Please refer to the conference webpage for updated room information: https://www.naccstejasfoco2018.com.

This will be an information sharing and brainstorming/strategizing session on this major statewide effort for MAS. Items to be discussed will be: a petition, media campaign, legislative strategy, state board of education strategy, and forming planning committee for the MAS demonstration in Austin on April 10th.

There will also be a follow-up meeting on this issue at the regularly scheduled NACCS Tejas Foco Committee for MAS Pre-K-12 meeting on Saturday, February 17th at 3:45 pm. Once again refer to the conference website for room information.

All are invited to attend both meetings. We need your ideas and support for this historic SBOE vote on MAS. Spread the word y allí nos vemos.

The National Association for Chicana & Chicano Studies (NACCS) Tejas Foco Committee on Mexican American Studies (MAS) Pre-K–12 presents the 2nd Statewide Summit on Implementing Mexican American Studies in Texas Schools. Hosted by Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas San Antonio, the one-day event will be held on Saturday, June 10, 2017, 8am-5:30pm, at the University of Texas San Antonio Downtown Campus (501 West Cesar Chavez, SA, TX 78207). The summit is free and open to all educators and community members who are interested in participating in creating a strategic plan for implementing Mexican American Studies in Texas schools.

Mexican American and Latinos students comprise 51.3% of school-aged children in the state of Texas and this demographic is expected to grow to 67% by 2050 according to the Hobby Center. Educational research has shown that students who take Mexican American, and other Ethnic Studies courses are more academically engaged, graduate from high school at higher rates, score better on standardized tests, and achieve higher grades in all of their courses. The Texas State Board of Education allows individual school districts and schools the option of implementing Mexican American and other Ethnic Studies courses. Textbooks and instructional materials focusing on Mexican American, Native American, African American and Asian American Studies are currently in development.

The goals of the Texas Summit on Implementing MAS in Texas Schools are to identify institutional barriers, establish priorities, and develop plans of action for the implementation of Mexican American Studies in Texas schools from Pre-K to 12th grade, and for increasing access to MAS courses and content within the broader community.

Teachers and experts in the field of Mexican American Studies will facilitate workshops and breakout sessions on various topics, including: Information & Data Collection, Media/Promotions, Political/Legislative, Community-Based MAS Programs, and developing curriculum, textbooks, teacher training, and other in-school programs for Elementary/Pre-K-5th grade, Middle and High Schools.

This year we will be including Mexican American Studies Decolonial Epistemologies Symposium: “Pedagogies of Liberation in Chicana and Chicano Schools and Communities” as part of our programming. It will take place on Friday, June 9th, from 6-9pm at UTSA Downtown.

The National Association for Chicana & Chicanos Studies Tejas Foco 2nd Texas Summit on Implementing MAS in Texas Schools is hosted by Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas San Antonio & co-sponsored by Palo Alto College Center for Mexican American Studies, the Center for Mexican American Studies at UT-San Antonio, Somos MAS/Mexican American Studies San Antonio, Tejas, Comparative Mexican American Studies Program at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio College Center for Mexican American Studies, Librotraficante, MAS Unidxs, Mexican American Studies Program at UT Rio Grande Valley, the Rio Grande Valley Coalition for Mexican American Studies in K-12 Education, and Academia Cuauhtli, and MAS for the Masses.

We have created a new form to better keep count of MAS classes and programs being taught in Texas. Please fill out this form, even if your course is well-known. This is for accurate record keeping to help our organization grow more MAS courses and content throughout Texas.

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Isidro GarzaDecember 19, 2016 / 12:38 pm

I see that the Republic of the Rio Grande is alive and well. We here in Houston have brought together eminent Chicano professors from California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and tejas and are working to put forth A Comprehensive Textbook which covers ALL of the history, music, art literature that is Chicano/a for our students from jr, middle and High School for 2017.